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An Uncomfortable Question

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 18
Meditation: Luke 18:8

“When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

Shift Your Focus… When Jesus asked this question, he wasn’t talking about saving faith. He was speaking of the exercise of faith by those who have been saved.

Luke prefaced Jesus’ parable about the woman who wouldn’t give up by giving the reason for it: To teach us that we should pray and not give up.

The story is about a woman who is so persistent in hounding a very tough, uncaring judge about her case that she finally wears him down. He gives her justice simply to get her off his back and bring sanity back to his life.

Of course, Jesus isn’t comparing God to that judge. Rather, he is contrasting the two. He is saying that if an unrighteous, unfeeling judge would do that for a persistent woman, how much more would your righteous, caring Father hear your case and answer you? The answer to that question is obvious: God stands at the ready to hear your prayers and meet your needs.

If that be the case, believers, therefore ought to pray and not give up. Then comes this penetrating question: When the Lord returns, will he find any of his people exercising that kind of persistent trust and expectant faith? Or will he find that they have wimped out, too easily given up, accepted the status quo in their lives and settled for less than God’s best?

Let’s make this verse really practical: Was Jesus referring to you when he asked that question? What have you given up on in prayer? A healing? The salvation of a loved one? Deliverance from a destructive addiction? Financial abundance? Greater spiritual depth, power, authority, effectiveness?

I think one of the disappointments we will have when we get to heaven—and if disappointments are possible there, I am sure they will be only momentary—will be all the unclaimed blessings and answers to prayer specifically reserved for us that were left in God’s treasury because we gave up too soon.

Perhaps today is a good day to dust off some of those prayer requests you have given up on and begin to bring them to the Righteous Judge once again. It could be that today will be the day of breakthrough for you and God will release the answer you are seeking.

You never know. So why not pray—and whatever you do, don’t give up!

“It is not enough for the believer to begin to pray, nor to pray correctly; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray. We must patiently, believingly continue in prayer until we obtain an answer.” ~George Mueller

Prayer… Lord, teach me to pray with the same persistent, expectant, fervent, never-say-die attitude you were describing in the parable.  I don’t want one single answer reserved for me left in heaven.  I want to lay claim to all that you have for me.

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Thanks A Lot!

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 17
Meditation: Luke 17:15-17

And one of [the ten], when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.”

Shift Your Focus… Every generation of parents ask a question of their children.  It’s more of a prompting than a question.  After receiving a gift or a favor, parents ask, “What do you say?”  Of course, the expected response is, “thank you.”

My parents would ask me, “What do you say to your grandmother for her Velveeta, Spam and lima bean casserole?” Now they didn’t really want my honest opinion here—they would have gone postal if I would have said, “Grammie, what in the name of heaven were you thinking?  You shouldn’t ever be allowed to prepare meals again!”  They didn’t really care what I thought, they simply wanted a response of gratitude to show my acknowledgement of Grammie’s kindness and effort.

Even if children don’t feel gratitude, parents want them to learn to offer thanks simply because it’s the right thing to do.  Why?  Because every human being lives with a debt of gratitude to someone for something.  Of course, parents hope their kids won’t just parrot words of gratitude; they hope that the exercise of gratitude now will one day produce authentically grateful people.

And that is exactly what our Heavenly Father hopes for each of us! That is why you can’t go very far into the Bible without a reference or an admonition to be thankful, as in this story Jesus tells.

The ability to express gratitude is one of the fundamental signs of a redeemed life and a growing spirituality. To give thanks is one of the highest callings we have and one of the most self-benefiting things we can do.  It keeps us from being self-absorbed. It produces an eternal perspective.  It reminds us of how truly blessed we really are. It creates a perspective that sees that all of life is a gift.

At the end of each day G. K. Chesterton would say, “Here ends another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands [to experience this] great world around me.  Tomorrow begins another day.  Why am I allowed two?” That’s why Ambrose, Bishop of Milan said, “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”  It keeps you focused on God’s goodness and not on yourself.

And perhaps best of all, gratitude opens the door for more.  The great preacher Andrew Murray said,  “To be thankful for what we have received…is the surest way to receive more.”

Why not practice a little gratitude today!  You’ll be grateful you did!

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all others.” ~Cicero

Prayer… Lord, you have blessed me with good things far more than I can count and far more than I deserve.  Thank you.  I owe an eternal debt of gratitude that I will happily but never fully repay.

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The Death-Grip of the Almighty Dollar

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 16
Meditation: Luke 16:11

“If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”

Shift Your Focus… It has been said that Jesus talked more about money than about heaven or hell. Many of his parables centered around the subject, as did his other teachings. That is because Jesus fully understood the death-grip money could have on the human soul.

Whether or not there was (or is) a literal god of money, I don’t know. Some have supposed that is what Jesus referenced when he spoke of “mammon”. But for sure, the love of money leads to all sorts of problems in this world, and in our lives: Greed, materialism, selfishness, worry, just to name a few.

Worst of all, the love of money always crowds out the love of God. That is why Jesus said in verse 13, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” In other words, we are to love God and use money—not vice versa.

But as critical as what Jesus said about God and money is, there is yet another facet to this teaching that you as a Christ-follower need to understand: How you use money now will have a direct bearing on the Kingdom authority God wants to release to you in this life, and in his eternal kingdom. That is what Jesus meant when he said if you can’t be trusted with wealth in this world, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

How you are handling your wealth—your money, home, cars and possessions—is not just isolated to the here and now. It is, in reality, a test-run that will determine the extent to which God can trust you, bless you and use you in a realm much more important that the temporary one your money has enabled you to acquire—the spiritual realm.

Ask yourself this question today: Who has me? Money or God? Am I loving God and using money? Or in reality—and just take a look at your checkbook register or your Quicken summary if you are unsure what reality is—are you bowing at the altar of Mammon?

“One verse in every six in the first three Gospels relates either directly or indirectly to money. Sixteen of our Lords forty-four parables deal with the use of misuse of money. A loving, joyful, liberal giving to the Lord’s work is an acid test of a spiritual heart, pleasing to God.” ~William Allen

Prayer… Lord, help me to use my money, to the very last cent, to be pleasing to you. When I stand before you some day, may you say of me that I loved you and used money to store up wealth in the eternal kingdom.

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God’s Highest Priority

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 15
Meditation: Luke 15:7

“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

Shift Your Focus… The message of this chapter is unmistakable: Lost people matter to God!

Jesus tells three parables that make up the entirety of chapter 15: The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. Each story features something lost—something of such value—that no expense and no effort are spared to see to their return.

At the end of each of these three stories Jesus uses a line to speak of the unmitigated joy expressed in their recovery:

“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (Verse 7)

“Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Verse 10)

“It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.” (Verse 32)

Again, the message is clear: God’s highest priority is the reclamation of lost people. They matter to God. And all of heaven celebrates their return.

Likewise, there is a clear application of utmost importance here for you and me: Since lost people matter to God, they ought to matter to us as well. No expense and no effort should be spared to aid in their recovery. And we ought also to celebrate what heaven celebrates—the return of even one sinner to God.

But with these stories comes a clear warning: Watch out for we might call the Elder Brother Syndrome (see verses 25-30). EBS resents the attention and effort made in the recovery and repentance of the sinner, and it is so easy to slip into it. It grows out of self-righteousness. It questions the authenticity of the sinner’s repentance. It refuses to rejoice at what heaven celebrates. And it couldn’t be further from what is at the very the heart of heaven, and our Father who resides there.

The call of chapter 15 must be our calling, too! What God prioritizes we must make our priority! If heaven celebrates repentant sinners, we ought to throw a party when one finds salvation. Lost people matter to God; they must matter to us as well!

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”  ~Charles Spurgeon

Prayer… Lord, use me today to lead some lost person to faith in you!

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Forget About Yourself

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 14
Meditation: Luke 14:11

“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Shift Your Focus… If you were clothed in your own humility, would you be scantily clad?

Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself than others; nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts, abilities and station in life.  It simply means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.

Dallas Willard, one of the great Christian thinkers of our time, said one of the signs of spiritual maturity is all the thoughts that no longer occur to you.  That would include all the thoughts in your head that keep you at the center of your universe.  God does that for you, so you don’t have to.

Some time ago, I was with my spiritual mentor, the late Dr. Charles Blair, who had brilliantly pastored his church in Denver, Colorado for fifty-one years.  We were with a small group of Christian leaders in Florida.  Among them were Jack Hayford, R.C. Sproul, Reinhard Bonnke, and other well known authors, media personalities, pastors and denominational leaders in the charismatic and evangelical world.

At one point, Dr. Hayford, our moderator, singled out and paid tribute to Charles in the presence of these other great leaders as the greatest example of pastoral perseverance and ministerial integrity in the last half century.  I could see the high esteem in which these Who’s Who type leaders held Dr. Blair.

Yet at the beginning of the conference, when we were asked to introduce ourselves, Dr. Blair simply stood and said, “I’m Charles, from Denver.”

What humility!  Unfortunately for me, I had just introduced myself right before Dr. Blair’s turn, and I hadn’t been quite that humble:  “Yes, I’m the Right Reverend Ray Noah, Senior Pastor…Presbyter…President of the Blair Foundation…blah, blah, blah.” I reminded myself of the pastor who was so humble that one Sunday his church presented him with a solid gold lapel pin that said “World’s Most Humble Pastor.”  When he wore the pin on his suit again the next Sunday, they took it away from him!

To truly enter into the kind of authentic humility that Jesus described, you’ve got to start thinking less of yourself.

I recently came across a little parable about man who was talking with the Lord one day and said, “Lord, I’d like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

The Lord led him to two doors.  The Lord opened one of the doors and the man looked in.  In the middle of the room was a large round table.  In the middle of the table was a large pot of mouthwatering stew. But the people sitting at the table were thin and sickly; they appeared famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles, and each found it possible to reach into the pot and take a spoonful, but impossible to get the spoons back to their mouths. The handle was longer than their arms.  As the man shuddered at the sight of their misery, the Lord said,  “You have just seen Hell.”

They went to the next room and found the same large round table with a large pot of mouthwatering stew in the middle.  These people had the same long-handled spoons, but unlike the first room, these were well-nourished and joyful people.  The man said, “Lord, I don’t understand.” The Lord replied, “It is simple—it takes one skill:  They’ve learned to feed each other, while the miserable think only of themselves.”

Let me give you a challenge this week: Forget about yourself!  Try it.  Practice being absent minded when it comes to you.  Get you out of your thoughts, and replace them with prayers of blessings and plans for serving for other people in your life.

And see what happens.  I suspect that if you allow the Lord to change your attitude, the simple joy of just belonging to him will be the result.

“Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less.”  ~Mike Show

Prayer… Lord, you perfectly modeled authentic humility.  Teach me to be just like you!

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The Divine Response To Human Tragedy

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 13
Meditation: Luke 13:2-5

“Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? … Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Shift Your Focus… One of the sad realities of living in a world broken by sin is tragedy.  We witness it all the time, and sometimes we are personally touched by it.  An infant dies in her sleep, a teenager is killed when his car crashes; a mother looses her battle with cancer…a quarter of a million people are wiped out by a tsunami.

Out of these tragic events, like clockwork, we hear some shocked and grief-stricken person ask, “How could a good God allow such evil?”  Of course, they are searching for some sort of answer that will make sense out of the insensible.  They are trying to find some explanation other than the simple reality of living in a broken world where bad things happen to people—good people as well as bad people—and God gets the blame.

This is the equivalent to what Jesus was asked.  A group of innocent Galileans had been killed while they were worshiping.  Eighteen people left home one morning like every other day, but on this day a tower collapsed, killing them all.  How could a good God?  How do we make sense of this tragedy?

Did you notice Jesus’ answer?  He didn’t really give them the answer they wanted.  In a way, he brushed aside their question and went to the heart of the matter:  sin.  Sin kills.  It brings death.  And as long as there is life on Planet Earth, there will not only be these inexplicable tragedies, every person will die sooner or later.  So far, the death rate for human beings is hovering around 100%.

So what is the explanation?  There is really no explanation that will satisfy the “how could a good God?” question.  But there is an answer—Jesus said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

The answer to the tragedies that occur in this broken world and the antidote to the tragedy of human sin that brings death to every human being is eternal life.  Repentance trumps death, salvation neutralizes sin, and the cross has defeated the grave.

That’s how a good God has dealt with the tragedy of life in a world broken by sin.

“We want to reach the kingdom of God, but we don’t want to travel by way of death. And yet there stands Necessity saying: ‘This way, please.’ Do not hesitate, man, to go this way, when this is the way that God came to you.”  ~Augustine

Prayer… Father, thank you for the precious gift of salvation—and eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.

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You Can’t Take It With You

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 12
Meditation: Luke 12-15

“And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Shift Your Focus… We don’t use words like covetousness or greed a whole lot these days, but we should. We Americans are a pretty greedy lot—me included. Our whole economic system is predicated on the hopes that you and I will grow dissatisfied with what we’ve got and go buy something newer, better, and bigger.

For instance, since Jesus told the story in Luke 12:16-20 about a man who thought his property was too small, let’s just take a look at our insatiable thirst for bigger homes. Did you know, according to the National Association of Home Builders, that the average home size in the United States was 1,400 square feet in 1970. In 2004, however, the average size had grown to 2,330 square feet. I have a feeling that it is even bigger than that now. My wife and I lived for a season of time in the Bay Area of California, where it was no big deal for homes to be 3,500 to 4,000—and larger.

It was a whole different picture when I was growing up. My mom, dad, three other siblings and a couple of family pets all lived comfortably in a home that was 1,200 square feet, if that. We shared bedrooms, bathrooms, clothes, didn’t have a garage to park our car in, and only one TV—with no remote control! We actually had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel, if you can imagine that.

And we didn’t think any thing of it. We didn’t feel poor or cheated or even realize what we didn’t have. We were content! We spent a whole lot more time together as a family. We ate together. We all drove together in the same car, even when we were teenagers—a family of six crammed into an AMC Gremlin! We were as happy as a clan of clams—we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

G.K Chesterton once said, “True contentment is a real, even active virtue—not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it.” I believe we had discovered that. We were content!

As a society, we Americans would do well to read Luke 12. It is a tough one, but what Jesus had to say about the deceitfulness of wealth, the debilitating worry over stuff, and our ultimate accountability before God for the stewardship of what we possess is much needed medicine for the greed that ails our society these days.

One day, sooner than you think, you will stand before God. None of the things you have collected during your earthly journey are going with you. As a pastor, I have performed more funerals than I can remember, and I have yet to see a U-Haul behind the hearse traveling to the cemetery. The only thing that will go with you into the next life that will do you any good is what you have done for God.

Jesus said of the rich man in the parable, “’Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

As the poet said, ‘Tis one life, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

“If you cannot get what you like, why not try to like what you get?”

Prayer… Father, teach me to number my days aright that I may gain a heart of wisdom. Teach me to the discipline of contentment and gratitude.  Free me from the slavery of stuff. Fill me with the joy of just knowing you—which is more than enough for an eternity’s worth of happiness.